Question

M.F. Hussain was working one of his masterpieces. His young son walks up to him and proudly explains, "Dad, did you know paint works on the basis of adsorption?"
Hussain: "Oh, really? Can you tell me how?"
What was his son's reply?

• A. Adsorption works on the basis of Rayleigh scattering.
• B. Adsorption occurs due to the presence of unbalanced forces on the surfaces
• C. Adsorption occurs due to even spreading of the paint on the surface
• D. Adsorption works because the paper absorbs all the paint.

Answer 1

The correct option is B Adsorption occurs due to the presence of unbalanced forces on the surfaces



In the above image, you can see that the forces on the surface are not balanced by molecules as they are in the bulk of the material. This leads to an imbalance on the surface and causes the molecules to exhibit adsorption to balance these forces.
This is very similar to the reasoning for the existence of surface tension. Adsorption and surface tension are classified under 'surface phenomenon' and are attributed to 'surface energy'

And this is the same reason for the adsorption of paint molecules on the surface of walls.